Game Debrief: What Went Right And What Went Wrong?

My synopsis
Smart had an unreal game
Lebron played well both on offense and defense
Luka and AR kind of sucked till the 4th when they both woke up

JJ sucked overall. Yeah he made the corrections finally but come on way too long to use TOs, didn't post up Luka at all till the 4th and stuck with Ayton for way too long.

Ayton sucked monkey balls IMO. Just cost the Lakers a ton of points with just losing the ball sor slow to react. He's a drop big so the Pelicans killed them on simple pick and pops

Hayes came in and the game flipped completely. Lakers had a finisher and a big who can play the switch defense they like

 

on the schedule, it looks like another blah win over a terrible team, but NO had won 4 of 5 and had basically all its guys for the first time ever or something. it's not nothing.

denver will be a measuring stick, as it's hard to know if the team that came out of the break looking cooked is the real one or not.

 

I thought it was a good win. Honestly, we can't take any team or victory lightly at this point with the West being so tight.

 

yeah, i looked at our schedule and phx's to finish (didn't look at the teams ahead, as i think finishing 3-6 is basically the exact same thing, tbh).

we're in legit danger of dropping bc i think phx has more likely wins on the schedule going forward.

so any win is welcomed, and those two close losses could end up being huge--especially since if we drop to the play-in, we likely play the clippers, who have been among the hottest teams in the league, and knocking us out would be their super bowl.

 

^If we end up in the play-in against OKC, we're cooked. SAS we might have a punchers chance if we can steal a game on the road and make it interesting. Denver has been about as inconsistent as us, and I'm liking that matchup more and more; I 'm also not scared of Houston.

Next 3 will be tough: Nuggets, Knicks, & Wolves.

 

I don't think he would have done that, IMO.

I never really wanted Herb Jones, nor Giannis, nor some of these guys we keep hearing of maybe besides Watson, and he'll likely be out of the picture. I do like Trey Murphy, ut not at the cost NOP is asking for...

 

They already have a Herb Jones his name is J Vanderbilt

 

Jones is a guy I think would look much better with us, but I agree. Can't give up a bunch of firsts for him with his production.

 

Needed this win

Lakers win the 4th 35-23

Shot 30% from the 3 line, but the Pels shot 28%

Role players

Hayes 8 pts 6 reb 1 ast 2 blk

LK 9 pts 2 reb 1 ast

Smart 10 pts 3 reb 7 ast 4 stl 3 blk

Rui doing a Russ imitation going 0-4

 

Just look at this game flow chart lol

 

not a tremendous surprise that luka/reaves/defensive guard/mobile lob-catching big was the formula.

i'm told this doesn't matter, but...sorry, it's real. make that 5th guy a switchable forward who can finish at the rim and from the corner, and you win a LOT of games.

 

What a depressing loss so many good looks bricked

 

Lakers with only 15 FT very strange
and Luka with 15 T not good

 

Fudge this one is rough: I thought Luka was as good as jokic but jokic made his finished shots, luka didn't
Jokic did a nasty to Lebron on that drive- think he got him with the chicken wing elbow there
Lebron needs to take his f***ing 3's - he played really well again. Rather him take them then Smart
AR needs to be more aggressive but man he contributed to the bad start by bricking all his pullup

Why no maxi again?
You might have to put Jake to pasture along with Vando in the I can't shoot to play in the NBA.

Not playing Theiro when you still don't have a Murray stopper is just killing me

 

This team is incapable of beating a playoff contending team.

 

I thought we played really well in DEN, but we just can't seem to win games against teams that have a better record than us.

Lakers lose 120-113 in a game they never led, but fell down by 15 and got to within 1 or 2, only to seen DEN put it back to 7-10.

Really easy to say Marcus or Laravia shouldda hit those open 3s. Jake, I think, tenses up in bit games. I still like the kid. After what Marcus has given us, I can't find any real fault with him.

That hellish loss to the Bags, followed by two losses in very close games, late: super depressing for this Laker fan. Yea, we just won 3 straight, but those were against the teams we should win against. It's like they know they're better than some teams and play like they know it; against good teams they just can't put it all together.

Beginning the game down 11-0 kinda pissed me off.

Again: we played a really good team in their place and gave a good showing, but it wasn't enough. There are holes in our defense that I'm not sure get patched with our roster and I have no easy fixes, and if anyone else claims they know the magic formula, I'd give 'em side-eye.

Rough one to lose. I've gone from Lakers could get to the WCF possibly to "Whatever: I'm glad to watch NBA games."

I wonder if the league will rescind Luka's 15th T, because from what I saw that ref has a stick up his azz about Luka. It looked like he got T-'d up for uppity body language to me. Maybe he said something else. But even if they rescind it, we will probably see him get his 16th and have to miss a game before these 82 are all said and done.

Lakers shot 15 FTs; Nugs 31. They make 'em, too. Us? Not so much 10/15 for 67% as a team.

Just gotta hang in there and hope something coalesces.

 

I was telling myself before the game I'll be happy if they lose by less than 10 PTS. And... I actually am kind of happy, at least with the way they played. We've seen far worse from this team this season, there is progress at least.